Murder Duet: A Musical Case [Paperback]

Batya Gur (Author), Dalya Bilu (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2000

Fourth in a series of popular, intellectually challenging mysteries from acclaimed Israeli author Batya Gur, Murder Duet features once again the smart, charming, and lonely police officer Michael Ohayon. After his cellist friend's father and brother--who are also well-known musicians--are brutally murdered, Ohayon, a classical music afficionado, sets out to solve the crime. From the opening pages, where the detective plays a compact disc of Brahm's First Symphony, to the newly discovered music for an unknown Vivaldi requiem that provides a rock-solid motive for the crime, lovers of crime novels, as well as music, will thrill to every dulcet note.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A virtuoso performance." -- --Booklist

"Not only a superb murder mystery but also a subtle study of the relations between creativity, ambition, love, and possessiveness." -- --Amos Oz

"Reading Gur, one is struck, first, by her obvious command of the genre, and, foremost, by her exemplary psychological insight." -- --Newsday

About the Author

Batya Gur (1947-2005) lived in Jerusalem, where she was a literary critic for Haaretz, Israel's most prestigious paper. She earned her master's in Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and she also taught literature for nearly twenty years.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 433 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (July 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060932988
• ISBN-13: 978-0060932985
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #945,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Batya Gur Reader, August 2, 2005

By 

Curiouser and curiouser (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder Duet: A Musical Case (Paperback)

Unlike the other reviewers here, this is the first Batya Gur mystery I have read. So, I didn't have the expectation of an inside look at Jerusalem and Israeli society that the other readers here seem to have had. I loved this book from the first page where the author used the first chord of the Brahms Symphony to evoke an immediate sense of mood. Anyone who knows the symphony will immediately here the chord in their head. This is very inventive - sound imagery!

The principal character is genuinely complex - he does things that he doesn't understand. Compared to the formulaic murder mysteries coming out of contemporary English writers, this book is a gem.

We are a family of classical musicians. I gave the book to my father to read, and from the minute he heard the chord on the first page, he was hooked.

Is there a rule that says an Israeli writer must always include local color and mood in their writing? Since this book focuses on a family of classical musicians, who are often oblivious to their surroundings and the goings-on in the "outside" world, the lack of specific references to the setting didn't bother me much at all.

I am now on my third Batya Gur and hope to read them all.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gur combines harmony, melody in this thriller!, February 28, 2001

By 

Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder Duet: A Musical Case (Paperback)

Quietly becoming a name in crime fiction is Chief Superintendent Michael Ohayon of the Jerusalem police. In "Murder Duet," author Batya Gur gives us another episode--and treat--of this so-called "soft-boiled" detective. During one of his evenings listening to a favorite Brahms (The First Symphony), he hears a cry and, opening the door, finds the proverbial babe in a handbasket abandoned at his door! There the story really begins. He looks to neighbor Nita van Gelden for help with the child, as she herself is a single mother AND a cellist (to keep the harmony of the book) of international accomplishment, along with other members of her family. But discord soon arrives, as a member of her family is murdered (and not because of his inferior musical ability!). This gets Ohayon on the case, prontissimo!

This is the fourth Gur novel featuring Ohayon (beginning with "Murder on a Kibbutz") and set in Israel. In addition to quite a few musical lessons, Gur treats us to some of the Israeli local color (although not near enough!). The cerebral Ohayon is on key, of course, and is in charge of each movement, as it were. Well-paced, the book continues to give us credible insight into Ohayon, as well as providing a good police procedural work--well worth the effort. ([e-mail])

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange Book--2/3's great, last 1/3 so flawed, November 19, 2000

By 

"jhc26not" (Bennington, Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder Duet: A Musical Case (Paperback)

What I said above. The book was fine, suspenseful, delicious and going great until the last third. There, Ms. Gur lost her sense of timing and her sense of the character's psychology. Instead of giving her detective a finale (don't want to ruin the plot), she got off track. I love classical music but it's as if she rushed and in her rushing there was loss of plot and TOO MUCH MUSICOLOGY. I'd give this 3 stars except that I adored her other mysteries. Another criticism others have noted is that Israel is missing. She names towns but doesn't give the flavor of that place, what we who read her, are used to. Giving the views and the details that make Israel different from other places is here just generic--names of streets and towns and hotels. Ms. Gur, if you are reading this little review, what happened? But thanks for a great reading week-end.